The 'Rotting In The Sun' Creators On The Clash Of Social Classes In Mexico, Facing Backlash On Social Media & More| Sundance 2023

Jordan Firstman and Sebastián Silva discussed their film ‘Rotting In The Sun’ at Sundance 2023.

Transcript

00:00We really are trying to be careful not to get everybody excited about the cocks in the movie

00:04because there are many but also they're like cocks are one click away on your phone for everybody

00:10so it's don't get too excited it's like there's Pornhub you know and the movie is about so many

00:16more things and like it's like an endless like like bevy of just like ideas emotionally and

00:24and class-wise and about what's going on in culture and so like the the dicks are kind of

00:28like the lowest on the totem pole i had been in mexico for a year and i was there painting mostly

00:38i had like left movies behind for a while and then um the class difference in mexico it's very

00:45striking it's really in your face and it's it's uh scary actually uh how intense it is and graphic

00:52and you know and so i was like maybe i want to write a dark comedy about this i really wanted to

00:58trash our world that we all work in and live um and when i met jordan he was like the perfect

01:04example of what's wrong with the world so i had i had been putting myself out there in a lot of ways

01:09and i had i got an offer from browsers to like write and direct a feature-length porn for them

01:15and i really wanted to do it and my agent said no and i was like please and they're like no and so when

01:20sebastian asked me i was like this is like a perfect alignment like i already wanted to like work in the

01:25sex space and push those limits because like we both have ideas about sex and how they should

01:30be incorporated into the mainstream more so it felt like the right move yeah he's really brave willing

01:36to make fun of himself and his videos and his persona he's jordan first man in the movie with his

01:42jordan first man instagram social media is is is such a beast it's like when it's when it's good it's good

01:48and when it's bad it's really bad so for like about eight months when i was first like and it's

01:53like exciting to have these like rises but then like it always turns and the internet will always

01:59turn on you you can't escape it i've seen people like that are that i know personally they're the

02:05nicest most charming there's nothing bad about them and if they go viral they have a moment people are

02:11going to turn against you so i had a lot of that especially from like gay guys like gay guys just

02:16couldn't handle a girl boss winning and like they just like came for me and so i got kind of like

02:21start that is why i also wanted to make fun of myself in the movie to take the social media like

02:26pressure off my back because it does start to feel like it's the only thing and it's you're like if

02:32you're not if you're not like getting bella hadid likes like you're nothing so this this movie was

02:38helpful for me like as a as a person and a creative because i came from this world before like i had a

02:44i directed a short that premiere here like a couple years ago i wrote for tv before the instagram

02:49thing happened but then no one cared like my followers on instagram right now i could like win

02:54an oscar tomorrow and they'd be like we don't care do an impression of someone who wins an oscar

02:57yeah like they don't care about my professional compliments at all they're like give us the thing

03:02you started with do your thing do your thing so this movie is kind of like a you to them too

03:08i think i i say like i hate you to my followers in the movie um and the movie yeah the movie it's

03:14like a very it's a very dark comedy about uh how we all felt also a little bit after covid you know

03:22and how like existential crises were forced onto our lives you really couldn't avoid to think about uh you

03:30know your priorities or stuff like that and like you know i've been making movies for i don't know 15

03:36years now and it's like it is a very superficial world that we live in